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Peoria Focus Online - 2008 Issue 2 |
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Mayor's Report Peoria Pushes Pentagon Channel Statewide |
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Many of us have been riveted by the twists and turns of this year’s presidential primaries. They’ve hogged most of the political spotlight and taken some attention away from the legislative doings in downtown Phoenix. That’s a shame, because the actions of the Arizona Legislature can have a profound effect on Peoria and the way our city pays for essential services. You may never have heard of “state shared revenue.” It’s not a sexy term; it’s hardly even English. In government jargon, it is the 15 percent of state tax collections that Arizona sends back to its cities and towns. State shared revenue makes up about one-third of Peoria’s operating budget. It pays for vital services that must be provided 24/7, such as police and fire protection. |
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Some legislators are looking at reducing that percentage in order to cover their own budget shortfall, and that’s not right. This revenue is not a gift the state gives to its cities and towns. As part of the deal that voters approved in 1972, the municipalities agreed not to impose their own income taxes. As the Arizona Daily Sun of Flagstaff put it in a recent editorial, “36 years later, a deal is still a deal.” The newspaper noted that the state is facing a budget deficit because tax collections are running far behind projections. But income taxes aren’t the only ones affected by a sour economy; as people curb their spending, local governments take in less from sales taxes. Most already are tightening their belts, and some that have planned less prudently than Peoria find themselves reducing services and cutting staff. So by reducing state shared revenue, the Legislature would be balancing its own budget at the expense of already pressed cities and towns – and the residents who depend upon vital municipal services. And there is another point that may be somewhat impolitic, so I’ll let the Arizona Daily Sun say it: “Most cities and towns tend to watch their spending a lot more closely than the state. They are also in the business of providing direct and vital services,” the March 4 editorial noted. “Those needs and their costs don’t go away just because there’s an economic downturn. In fact, the need for government services usually increases in a recession.” The professionals who handle day-to-day management of Peoria carry out their mandate in a careful, efficient, open and timely manner. “The difference between state and municipal governments can be seen in the stark contrast of their budget crises,” editorial columnist Richard de Uriarte noted in The Arizona Republic March 12. “The city government, run by unelected professionals, focuses on the fiscal details, expenditures and tax receipts. A slide in January revenues prompts quick response from city budgeters. On the state level, the ship can't move because the partisans must agree.” Residents have input on Peoria’s spending through direct access to city officials and elected leaders. The City Council has adopted written “Principals of Sound Financial Management” and continues to set service and construction priorities according to those principals. More than 92 percent of Arizona’s state income taxes come from taxpayers who live in municipalities, according to the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. It is sound fiscal policy to reinvest a portion of that state income in the local communities from it comes. The revenue-sharing arrangement imposed by voters in 1972 has worked well for decades. This is no time for the Legislature to mess around with it. Mayor Bob Barrett
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